Every Superman Needs A Lois Lane
by BenRG
Summary: The history of the Tennyson kids as seen from the perspective of someone without extraordinary powers, who just wishes to be a friend. Because I promised her a focus episode. Mostly B/G/J friendship
1. Little Girl, Where Have You Been?

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Every Superman Needs A Lois Lane

By BenRG

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Disclaimer

'Ben 10' and 'Ben 10 – Alien Force' were created by Man of Action for The Cartoon Network.

The author claims no ownership or rights over the copyrighted and trademarked entities portrayed herein. This is a not-for-profit fan story for free distribution through the world-wide web.

**Author's Notes**

Okay, in response to (and partly in penance for) my humorous Ben 10 story, I've decided to write an infinitely more serious story. This story is written entirely from the primary character's point of view.

As everyone who read my last story will know… I _did_ promise her a focus episode. ;-)

**Censor: T**

**Chapter 1 – Little Girl, Where Have You Been?**

My name is Julie Minako Yamamoto. I am a fifteen, going on sixteen-year-old Asian-American living in Bellwood, California. I have black hair, cut short in what my Mom calls a 'pageboy bob' and amber eyes that my boyfriend says actually look _gold_. I am an above average sophomore student at Aloysius Pine Senior High School and am on my school's tennis squad. My coach tells me that if I keep up my academic scores and efforts, I might even get a tennis scholarship from a college! I suppose that, to the outsider, there is nothing even remotely unusual about me. I appear 'normal' in every way.

They would be wrong.

To understand why they are wrong, I have to tell a story. When my family moved to Bellwood, when I was just five years old, we quickly got to know the town's unwritten rules. In any town there are dos and don'ts – things that you have to do to fit in with society and be accepted by your new neighbours. In Bellwood, or so my parents quickly found out, one of the standing cardinal rules was: '_Watch out for those Tennysons_'.

The Tennysons were three generations of the same family living in the town. There was the paternal grandfather, Max, who was apparently ex-USAF and ex-NASA with lots of mysterious 'holes' in his history. He had apparently been widowed when his sons were teenagers but there was some mystery and scandal about what had actually happened to his wife Verdona. Although she had a marker in the Heavenly Rest cemetery, no one could swear to have seen the scattering of her ashes. There were also two sons, Frank and Carl, who were both married with children. Frank had a son in high school and a little girl of about my age, named Gwen. Carl had only a son of about my age, named Ben. The weird thing was that Ben and Gwen had the same birthday. There was also some mystery and scandal about that fact, which I have never been able to understand. The most benign rumour is that they are fraternal twins who were separated at birth for some reason.

The Tennysons all lived perfectly normal lives, as far as anyone could tell for certain. However, there was a certain degree of mistrust directed towards them. They were 'weird'. They had strange, out-of-town friends, tended to disappear for long, irregular periods and tended to suffer strange injuries for no reason that ever quite seemed to make sense. The younger kids were also considered 'not right' either. They were both were considered abnormal by most of the parents who spoke to my mom. The little girl, Gwen, seemed to have a freaky level of intelligence for a five-year-old and the little boy, Ben, was considered a troublemaker who had fits of 'picking on the nicer children.'

Having been home-schooled by my mom until I completed fourth grade, my first encounter with Ben and Gwen Tennyson came when I started Junior High School. Having been repeatedly warned, just like every other kid, to 'watch out for those Tennysons', I naturally avoided them both.

Gwen stood out in any crowd. She had the brightest fire-red hair of any kid at the school. Both her and Ben also had the most startling green eyes too. She was also quickly marked out by her near-supernatural intelligence. She was top of the class in all of the academic subjects. Ben was a purely average student, when he could be bothered to do the work. Some would have called him a slacker, but it was clear that he just wasn't _interested_ in a lot of the assignments. When he _did_ put forth effort, he was an equal to Gwen, especially when it required some prodigious act of imagination.

Ben continued to have a reputation as a troublemaker, which I couldn't understand. Certainly, I had never met anyone who could honestly say that they had been picked on by him or say that _they_ knew anyone who could say so either. If anything, Ben seemed to be the _target_ rather than the _instigator_ of trouble. This was especially the case in Gym Class. There were two kids, Cash and JT, who always targeted Ben for foul balls, heavy tackles and general rough-housing. Naturally, as he was an unpopular kid from an unpopular family, no one in authority cared to do anything about it. Gwen, although less subject to physical assault, was also subject to bullying of the social exclusion kind. As a 'Jap' (and Junior High was my first encounter with hate speech directed at my ethnicity), I can tell you that being excluded is as painful as any physical blow.

I came to learn that Ben and Gwen's 'target' status had begun in Elementary School. As being 'those Tennyson kids', they were automatically the 'different' kids whom it was implied it was okay to bully. As their families were always looked upon with suspicion, I suspect that the teachers thought that bullying would encourage them to be less 'different' (a sin worse than any other in Bellwood, it seems).

When I told my parents about how unfairly Ben and Gwen were being treated, I was more than a little surprised to be told to keep my distance from the Tennyson kids and not to pay attention to the injustices that was meted out to them. "It's just the way things are," Dad told me. "Some people are just naturally the targets. There is nothing that the likes of us can do about it and trying to will just get you dragged down with them."

Thus it was that I learnt my first important lesson in the inherit injustices of life. A little girl of nine, going on ten years old, I swore that, if I ever got the power, I would ensure that it wouldn't be 'just the way things are' for me.

I really couldn't have known what that oath would mean for me.

Up until the beginning of the spring semester, Ben Tennyson and Gwen Tennyson had just been passing figures in the corridors or yard or an occasional voice in class. That all changed when Cash and JT decided to branch out their bullying trade to other 'different' kids. Being from an ethnic minority, I was, of course, an early target.

* * *

I was just walking down the road to the school (I lived too close to the campus to make taking the bus worthwhile) when a voice stopped me. "Hey! Slant-eyes!"

I winced. You wouldn't have thought that the Second World War had been over for more than half a century based on how my family was often treated. It wouldn't be until I was fourteen, and an adult by traditional Japanese standards, that I would be told that I didn't just share a name with the brilliant naval strategist who masterminded Pearl Harbour and nearly swept the US Navy from the Pacific Ocean in 1941. However, that is another story.

I turned around and saw Cash, a tanned, above-average height and thinner-than-average boy, and JT, a portly ginger-haired boy with thick-lens spectacles, smirking at me in a way that made me feel afraid. "What is it Cash?"

"Seems to me that you Japs must be pretty rich, what with all the cool stuff you wear," Cash remarked. I shrugged. My dad worked for a company in Silicon Valley and was a fairly senior engineer. My mother was a freelance fashion journalist. Overall, we were 'comfortably well off' but not rich by any standards. However, having a fashion professional as one's mother ensures that one is always wearing the best (or at least a fair facsimile of such). "If you're so rich, then I think it's time you shared the wealth around!"

"W… What are you talking about?"

"Your lunch money," Cash said. "Now."

"No! It's mine!"

Cash's smirk got a little bit more poisonous.

"Seems to me that Slant-eyes needs to be reminded who won the war!" JT remarked with an evil chuckle. With a speed that belied his size, the boy jumped forward and grabbed the sleeve of my pink hoodie. "Gimmie your bag!" he yelled in malicious triumph.

"No! Get off of me!" I lashed out more instinctively than with any concrete tactic in mind. My flailing hand caught JT's glasses and sent them clattering to the ground.

"You little bitch!" JT's backhanded slap caught me on the side of the face and made the world explode into pain. I staggered and nearly fell, not even able to see clearly thanks to the tears suddenly filling my eyes.

As I reeled back, Cash circled behind me and grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms behind my back. "I got her man!"

JT resettled his glasses on his face and, with an ugly expression on his face, lunged forwards again. The portly boy grabbed my 'Hello Kitty' shoulder bag and yanked on it, hard, ignoring the fact that its strap was around my shoulder and would cut into my neck. I screamed in pain as JT hauled on my bag as hard as he could but still heard the 'rip' as it tore open, spilling the contents onto the sidewalk. Far beyond panic, I kicked backward and caught Cash with the heel of my sneaker; I'm not sure exactly where, probably his shins but it was enough to make him cry out in pain. "OW! Little _ho_!" He shoved me away and I was sent sprawling to the ground. Before I could get my bearings, he had grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back to my feet, tearing my hoodie in the process. "I was going to just take your money you little bitch," he hissed. "Now, I've got to teach you to respect your betters too!" He cocked his fist and I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow to strike my face…

"_Leave her alone!_" Suddenly, Cash wasn't holding onto me anymore and I fell onto my backside.

I opened my eyes and, at first, didn't recognise the brown-haired boy with a black-and-white loose tee-shirt and dark cargo pants who had just body-checked Cash off of me. It wasn't until JT growled "You should have kept your nose out of this, Tennyson!" that I realised that my would-be saviour was Ben Tennyson!

The despised 'troublemaker' laughed derisively. "Since when have I been that smart?" he snarked fearlessly. The two bullies looked at each other and nodded grimly. Cash stood up and he and JT began circling Ben, trying to surround him. "Get out of here, kiddo," Ben said, his tone belying the worry now marking his face as he looked from Cash and JT and back, assessing their locations and movements. "I can handle these twerps!"

Brave words, but Ben was smaller than both bullies and was outnumbered. He got in a few good blows and was able to put his greater agility to good use. However, Cash tripped him as he tried to dodge in between them and, as soon as the boy was on the ground, Cash and JT began to treat him like a soccer ball. Ben curled up into a ball, trying to cover his head but the kicks were not stopping any time soon and I knew he would be seriously hurt.

Ask my dad and he will tell you that I am probably not very good at thinking things through. I am not naturally impulsive, but my good nature often gets the better of me. This was one such occasion. I staggered to my feet and, without any obvious plan in mind, leapt onto Cash's back, wrapping my arms around the tall boy's throat in a stranglehold.

Cash made a sound of panic and staggered back, clawing at my arms. JT forgot about Ben for a moment and stepped towards me. Ben, who had been clearly waiting for an opening, suddenly unfolded like a flower and drove both his feet into the ginger boy's fat belly. JT made a noise like a balloon deflating and folded double.

Cash meanwhile had finally untangled me from around his neck and dragged me around in front of him. The punch to my gut was the single most painful experience I had to date, even more painful than when my mom spanked me for trying to make cupcakes without her assistance (seven year old + electric mixer = bad times). I folded double and fell to my knees. However, I saw Cash's booted foot swing back for a kick at my head. I closed my eyes in anticipation when suddenly, Cash was airborne; Ben had body-checked him again, sending him tumbling over the low front fence of a nearby house lot. I barely had enough time to gather my wits when, suddenly, a weight was pressing me down to the sidewalk, covering me and partly surrounding me. "Don't move," Ben whispered in my ear. "Stay under me in case they want more!"

However, it was over. "Let's go man! Let's split!" I heard JT shout. I looked up to see the two bullies fleeing down the street, half carrying each other.

"I'll get you for this Tennyson! You'll pay for this!" Cash yelled over his shoulder.

"Ah, get in line, blowhard!" Ben yelled back. The weight on my back shifted as he stood up.

I rolled over and looked up into my saviour's oh-so-green eyes. Ben Tennyson looked down at me with some concern, noting my bruised throat from where JT yanked on my bag and my ripped hoodie. There was a bruise starting under his left eye and his shirt was askew. He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and then he suddenly smiled and the whole world seemed to grow brighter and easier.

A hand was offered to help me stand and I heard him ask: "Are you okay?"

And with that, a little girl had fallen in love.

* * *

Cash and JT were suspended for two weeks, lost all academic credits for the semester and were forced to apologise to me before the entire school by the Principal. No apology was offered to Ben and, or so the school rumour mill said, only my dad's threat to support the Tennysons' complaint to the County School Board stopped him from being suspended too, for fighting.

I thus learned that 'everyone' can be wrong. Just because 'everyone' says that someone is bad news, doesn't make it so. Just because someone is 'different' doesn't stop them from being kind, noble and heroic. I also learnt that a 'troublemaker' can just as easily be someone who does not stand by and let injustice stand.

That day, I swore that I would find out who these Tennysons were and why they were so different.

_To be continued…_


	2. Meet The Tennysons

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Every Superman Needs A Lois Lane

By BenRG

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**Disclaimer**

'Ben 10' and 'Ben 10 – Alien Force' were created by Man of Action for The Cartoon Network.

The author claims no ownership or rights over the copyrighted and trademarked entities portrayed herein. This is a not-for-profit fan story for free distribution through the world-wide web.

**Author's Notes**

Okay, in response to (and partly in penance for) my humorous Ben 10 story, I've decided to write an infinitely more serious story. This story is written entirely from the primary character's point of view.

As everyone who read my last story will know… I _did_ promise her a focus episode. ;-)

**Censor: T**

**Chapter 2 – Meet the Tennysons**

I think that, at this stage, it is important to make something very clear. Benjamin Maxwell Tennyson is no noble knight in shining armour. At age 10, he could be a brat when he wanted to be or when he wasn't thinking about the consequences of his actions. Like all kids of his age, he could also be intensely selfish and has an edge of cunning and cruel humour to his personality. Even now, he can be exasperatingly lazy and has an incredibly lax approach to work if he does not consider it personally important.

He and Gwen were and are like water and sodium. There was just something about the one that set the other off in a violent reaction that was sure to consume all their surroundings in the resulting conflagration. Oh, Gwen liked to try to make out that she was always the injured party. However, she had an acid-tipped tongue and loved to provoke Ben to exasperation whenever possible. She was just an adept a prankster as he and had the additional advantage of her incredibly sharp mind as a weapon.

Both Ben and Gwen can be offensively arrogant sometimes. Even when they are modest, they somehow find a way to wave their egos around.

Yet… you could not ask for finer friends. For they are always there when it counts. If Ben and Gwen fight all the time it is because they love interacting so much that they are always looking for excuses to do so. With their friends, they are always true. They always look out for those close to them. You can honestly say that everything they do tends to have a good motive, no matter how weirdly expressed.

Frankly, I loved them both.

It might sound odd, but of the two Tennyson kids, I got to know Gwen first.

However, when you think about it, it isn't so strange. Remember that I was a going-on-10 year old girl who had just developed a galaxy-sized crush on a guy who had saved her from bullies. I could barely even _face_ Ben, let alone strike up a conversation with him. He must have thought little Julie was the weirdest kid in school, the way that she would always go bright red in the face when she saw him and ran away. Still, I was a girl and therefore inherently incomprehensible, so I doubt that he worried very much about it.

I first met Gwen outside of school at judo class. After the incident with JT and Cash, my dad (over my mom's objections) had enrolled me in a number of martial arts classes so I could look after myself. Gwen, as one of 'those Tennyson kids' was automatically excluded from social cliques and no one was entirely willing to be the one to practice with her. Thus it was that Gwen and I ended up paired together. It is astonishing how much one can learn about a girl when you are trying to beat ten kinds of stuffing out of her.

I learnt that Gwen was not quite the academically-inclined bookworm that she made out to be. She was an adventurous sort really, as adventurous as Ben in her own way. She had a great love for nature, for computer games and for astonishing facts, the more astonishing the better. Gwen idolised her older brother, Kenny, who was now in college and was hoping to emulate his grandfather and become a NASA astronaut. Gwen was also pretty lonely. The only other person her age who was willing to talk to her was Ben and, being a boy and pretty hyperactive sometimes, that wasn't always what Gwen wanted or needed.

I found that Gwen was generally a quiet sort of person, in decided contrast to Ben's loud, extrovert defiance of the whole world. Gwen could enjoy the quiet of a spring meadow and the sight and sound of a stream for hours when Ben would need to be doing _something_. Now, I'm as active as any other kid but I could appreciate Gwen's love for beauty and peace, something that I often found reflected in my mother's own leisure pursuits (itself a reflection of our Buddhist faith).

Naturally, having a crush on the boy, I used Gwen as a way to get to know my hero a little bit better. According to Gwen, Ben was a 'dweeb' and was always causing her trouble, picking on her and playing evil pranks. Then she regaled me with tales of her own pranks, sometimes carried out in what she called 'pre-emptive revenge'. As Gwen got more familiar with me and more willing to talk, I came to realise that at least some of her exasperation with Ben was worry that her cousin would allow himself to fall behind in school and end up getting in trouble. Gwen actually spent a surprising amount of time worrying about Ben and that probably helped me get to understand the nature of that boy a lot better.

Gwen and I became Best Friends Forever, to use the school phrase (or so we thought – how simple a child's world is!). We studied together, we hung out together and sat next to each other in shared classes. We looked out for each other and we generally grew as close as two girls from different backgrounds could.

The next significant amount of time I spent around Ben didn't come until his and Gwen's shared 10th birthday party at Gwen's house. I learnt from Gwen that, as she and her cousin shared a birthday, it had long been a Tennyson family practice to celebrate their birthdays with one party. It just happened that this year it was at Gwen's place.

Ben arrived looking about as morose as you can imagine. So much so that I had to laugh, clearly offending him. Not only did Ben clearly not want to be around the 'dork's' house, attending _her_ party when he could be having one of his own, but he had also clearly driven his father to the very ends of his patience with his complaints and attempts to avoid attending. Being threatened with grounding is no way to celebrate a birthday.

Gwen, being Ben's ever-loving cousin, couldn't help but rub salt into the wound. One day, I will work out how Gwen's mom managed to stop the food fight so quickly and efficiently. However, that didn't prevent me from getting lime Jell-O on my favourite white sundress and ending up in tears.

Ben had to _personally_ apologise to each partygoer for the trouble he had caused. So it was that I spent my first time in close contact with my hero since that day on the sidewalk, some two months previously now.

* * *

"Um… hi." I managed, blushing like a warning light. Ben was slouched over so far that his head seemed to be poking forward from his body rather than being on top of it. His face was close to a parody of misery and his fists were stuffed into the pockets of his cargoes. It was pretty clear that he barely recognised me, except as Gwen's friend.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Ben muttered. The boy sucked in a breath. How he did this I don't know, but I swear that the next words came out all in one breath. "I'm sorry that I threw Jell-O at you and got your dress dirty; I didn't mean to upset you; I know it was wrong of me and I should have thought about other people; I hope that you'll forgive me and won't be mad."

Ben turned and was about to slouch out of the room when I caught his arm. "What?" he snapped, anger and a little fear in his eyes. I was frozen for a moment. "Look, I said I'm sorry for the stupid food fight! What else do you want?"

"I want you to mean it!" I was quite surprised by my outburst and so was Ben.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

"You're only saying it because your dad and mom said so!" I shot back. "Forced apologies are no apologies!"

"Oh man! What do you want from me! _Blood_?!?" I was already learning that such histrionics were a fairly common behaviour for both the younger Tennysons.

"I want you to apologise and _mean it_!"

"Why should I have to apologise?" Ben snapped. "It's Gwen's stupid fault for going on about me having to come to her stupid party!"

"So?" I nearly shouted. "You didn't have to start throwing things at her!"

"What was I _supposed_ to do? It isn't _fair_!" Ben and my moms came in at this point, attracted by the noise we were making. "What do I care about you anyway? I'm glad that your stupid dress is dirty! I hope it's ruined forever!"

I burst into tears at that. Oddly enough, so did Ben. The boy tried to rush out but instead collided with his Mom's legs. Things would probably have ended there if I hadn't yelled out: "I can't believe I wanted to like you! You're as horrible as Cash and JT!"

When Ben's green eyes turned towards me, they were filled with a fire that I had never seen before. He slipped out of his mother's grasp and was in my personal space in an instant. "I'm _nothing_ like them!" he spat.

"Then say you're _sorry_!" I almost shrieked.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry about the stupid dress! I _AM_! I didn't want to hurt anyone! _AAARGH!_ Oh _man_! Gwen just gets me so mad! Why can't she leave me alone?"

"She shouldn't have teased you," I responded hotly. "But you shouldn't have retaliated!"

"What _should _I…? Wait a minute!" Ben suddenly was looking at me in a weird way. "What did you say? You don't think Gwen was right to make fun of me?"

That was a complex grammatical creation for a 10-year-old and I had to think about my reply. "Er… no!"

The two of us were looking at each other in a weird way. Our mothers were looking at each other too, quite mystified by the sudden drop in the level of anger in the room.

"Aren't you her friend?"

"Yeah!"

"Then shouldn't you… uh… take her side all the time?"

"Um… no? Not when she's being mean, no!"

"But… you're still going to be her friend?"

"Of course! I like hanging out with her and doing stuff with her!"

Ben blinked at me as if he had never seen me before. "I don't get it!" he said.

"Being friends is more than just agreeing," I said. "Mommy says that being a friend means that you want to spend time with someone, think about them all the time and want to help them!"

"Yeah… I guess… It's kinda weird though." Ben shook his head. Suddenly, he grinned at me in a mischievous way that always made my stomach turn loops. "_You're_ kinda weird, Julie," he said at last. "That's okay. I _like_ weird. I even like _Gwen's_ weirdness when she isn't being a nerd or a dork!"

"Is… is that why you saved me from Cash and JT?" I suppose there was a little wistful hope in my voice.

"I… what?" Ben looked at me for a long time and I could feel my blush starting up again at the closeness of his inspection of my face. "So _that_'s where I knew you from! I should have _known_! You're only friends with Gwen so you could get close to your _hero_!" Ben then adopted a parody of a heroic pose. Only two 10-year-olds could possibly have taken it seriously.

I hotly denied it but Ben should have caught the lie from my blush. "Gwen really is my friend you know," I stammered. "I like her for _her_!"

"Really?" Ben blinked at me in surprise. Then his green eyes were elsewhere. "No accounting for taste." Ben looked at his mother and my mother, both of whom were looking puzzled at recent events. He then looked back at me, looked at the green stain on my dress and physically winced. "Oh _man_!" he sighed again (I had already realised that this was his 'catch-phrase' of sorts) and ran a hand through his untidy brown hair. "Look, Julie… I hope your dress isn't ruined. I've got favourite clothes too…!" He continued in a low murmur. "It sucks when you need to get new ones!"

"Apology accepted!" I suddenly lunged forwards, grabbed Ben around the neck and hugged him.

"_Aargh! Cooties!_" Ben screamed and fought like a madman to get loose.

* * *

I can't say that my relationship with Ben was dramatically closer after that. However, I had been promoted from "One of Gwen's Friends" to "Weird But Likeable Girl I Know". Having encountered Ben in a less-than-ideal situation, my crush was broken. He was just a boy – cuter than most but bad-behaved like most boys. Once, as the summer semester proceeded, when Gwen was unwell, he actually hung out with me one long holiday weekend.

Ben _claimed _it was to 'De-Gwen' me, whatever that meant. What I found out was how much like Gwen he actually was. He, too, liked video games and astonishing facts and sights. Being a boy, he was a _lot_ more active than Gwen and I found him daring me to jump over walls and fences and swing on ropes dangling from branches over the Bellwood River. However, in quiet moments, I saw a similar love for nature and beauty in his eyes. Naturally, those quiet moments didn't last for long. If Gwen was like a warm, comforting blanket, Ben was like a fast, invigorating wind, always daring me to new and exciting things.

It was the start of what could have been a lifelong friendship if it hadn't been for that road trip. Ben and Gwen spent ten long weeks away from Bellwood with their Grandpa Max, driving all over America in his battered-looking RV. It was a hard separation but I comforted myself with the knowledge that they would return soon enough.

When they came back, my friends had _changed_. When they entered homeroom on the first day of the autumn semester of our sophomore year, their eyes…. Their eyes were different; _haunted_. They seemed to search the room for threats and checking the exits.

There was a _harshness _to both of them now. They still tried to have fun and be the Ben and Gwen I remembered, but there was a seriousness and burden to their personalities that, as a 10-year-old girl, I could neither understand nor handle. It wouldn't be until Kenny Tennyson came back from his first tour of duty some three years later that I would realise that these were the hallmarks of a _soldier _who had seen active duty.

Somehow, Ben and Gwen had grown closer during that road trip. They could communicate without words and only needed to exchange a quirked eyebrow or nod. Rumours began of them being in some kind of 'unnatural relationship' (the girls being the worst gossips). Even I, Gwen's supposed BFF, couldn't share this sudden intimacy they enjoyed.

There were now things about Gwen that I didn't and _couldn't_ understand. Suddenly, she needed more private time away from me. She always seemed to have secrets and interests that she refused to share with me. She remained a studious, focussed girl but she had lost a little of her carefree nature and had become hardened somehow. I also noticed the increasingly _pagan_ aesthetic of her clothing and room. Naturally, this only served to reinforce the impression most had that she was 'not right'. Occasionally, inexplicable things happened around Gwen: loud preppy girls would trip over or somehow spill their drinks in their laps; tennis balls would suddenly seem to swerve away from her; she could somehow get from place to place far quicker than it should be possible. Sometimes, she would _frighten _me.

Ben, too, had changed. There was a sudden focus to him that changed him radically. At school, he suddenly became a physical _presence_. Cash and JT, who, previously, saw him as a challenge, suddenly tended to avoid his hard gaze. Conversations would stop every time he would enter the room.

Ben also had a new toy; the weirdest thing I had ever seen. He described it as a 'novelty wristwatch' that his grandfather had bought for him in Hollywood. However, it didn't look like a wristwatch to me. If anything, it looked like a metal _manacle_, clamped onto his left lower arm. It _never_ came off, even when Ben was in swimming class. Its subtly glowing green hourglass face had no numerals displayed, although I occasionally caught Ben touching the glowing green controls and twisting the face. When he saw me watching, he'd always stop and loudly try to distract my attention.

Ben joined the judo and kung-fu classes. Both he and Gwen showed a nearly-terrifying level of focus. No one could hope to beat them once they had their measure. When the two bullies finally gained the courage to challenge Ben, he barely even _hurt_ them, just put them onto the ground so firmly that they realised it was wise to stay there.

They tried to maintain their friendship but I was too weirded out. Almost unconsciously, I drew away from them. By the time we started Junior year, I barely even acknowledged them anymore, having fallen in with the sporty set as my skill with tennis grew.

I suppose that my association with the Tennysons could have ended there, but fate had different plans.

_To be continued…_


	3. Time Changes All Things

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* * *

**

Every Superman Needs A Lois Lane

By BenRG

* * *

**Disclaimer**

'Ben 10' and 'Ben 10 – Alien Force' were created by Man of Action for The Cartoon Network.

The author claims no ownership or rights over the copyrighted and trademarked entities portrayed herein. This is a not-for-profit fan story for free distribution through the world-wide web.

**Author's Notes**

Just a heads-up in advance: The next two chapters will need me to do lots of research on the exact sequence of events in _Ben 10 – Alien Force_. So, it might be a week or two before I can complete them and get them posted.

**Censor: T**

**Chapter 3 – Time Changes All Things**

During the recess between Junior and Senior High, Ben and Gwen had both suddenly blossomed. Ben was growing into a handsome young man and always had the girls in my class giggling over him. Gwen too had suddenly changed into a graceful and beautiful young woman, one who enjoyed that natural beauty that required little cosmetic enhancement, if any. Boys' heads began to track her motions and she had at least one public argument with Ben after he had scared off some of her more persistent 'admirers'. She was scrupulous about keeping out of the various cliques and, even though she was approached on many occasions, did not try out for the Cheer team.

With the passage of three years, the _rawness_ of Ben and Gwen's post-road trip nature had faded away. Ben was still spontaneous as well as loud and occasionally obnoxious. However, he had gained a noticeable focus and discipline; his grade average started to climb. He also exuded the reassuring confidence of a person who had been to strange places, had done strange things and had come back in one piece. He had a certain degree of charm and his early instinctive need to help and protect had matured into a clear sense of justice and fairness. He was always the one to help out the new kid or explain a hard topic. These elements all made him a natural leader amongst his peers.

Ben's discipline had extended into other areas. He was no longer a small, scrawny boy. He was hardly a 'hottie' but he had developed nicely and had become a superb soccer player, easily making it onto the school team. Watching him play, in the most challenging Central Midfielder position, was like watching poetry in motion. From the number of other girls who flocked to the team's practice sessions and matches, I wasn't the only one to think so either.

Gwen had become a more sociable and outgoing young woman with a wide range of interests. She was the person voted "most likely to become a political lobbyist". She was always getting involved in campaigns and vigorously and passionately debating things of interest to her. She remained a straight-A student but was far more approachable. She was always willing to tutor people who were having trouble grasping subjects.

It was thus that I came back into Gwen's growing circle of associates (it would be exaggeration to call them friends – Both Gwen and Ben still exuded a palpable sense of mystery and danger that kept people wary around them). As I focussed more on my tennis, I had let my grade average slip. Threatened with being thrown off the team if I didn't get the averages up again, I accepted her offer of tutoring in English and Math.

It promised to be an awkward meeting. I had decided well in advance to keep things professional and act as if Gwen were just another tutor . However, Gwen was never one to stick by the rules.

* * *

"Okay, I think you've got it now," Gwen said. I nodded. Gwen had a natural skill as a teacher, it seemed. That was probably how Ben had caught up on all his classes so quickly after that mysterious life-changing road trip. "So, I think that there is only one thing left to do." I gave Gwen an odd look. I wasn't prepared (but should have been) for her next words. "What happened to us Julie? I thought we were going to be best friends forever!"

I stuttered for a moment before I could think of how to respond. "_You _ask _me _that?" I yelled. "Friends aren't supposed to keep secrets! Friends aren't supposed to draw away from their friends and have whole bits of their life that they never share!" I turned and was ready to storm out of Gwen's bedroom all to the maximum effect but the door was somehow already closed and locked. I fumbled with the lock but it seemed to be jammed.

"Julie! Do you think I _liked_ having to keep secrets from you?" I wasn't looking at Gwen but I could hear the tears in her tone of voice. "I wanted to tell you everything but I _couldn't_! They weren't all my secrets to tell and so much had happened to us that summer and I didn't know what to do and I… and I… and I…!"

I finally turned around and found Gwen was hunched in upon herself, her auburn hair, now grown out to hip length, forming a curtain before her face. She was covering her face but, from the way her shoulders were shaking, I realised that she was crying. Almost in a trance, I walked back over to Gwen and crouched down beside her. "Talk to me, Gwen," I said.

"I was afraid," Gwen finally murmured between her wracking sobs. "I was afraid that if I told you, you wouldn't want to know me! You were my first friend and I didn't want to lose you…! But… but I lost you anyway!"

Tears were now falling down my cheeks too. "Gwen, it hurt so much that you wouldn't talk to me!" I whispered. "I wanted to be there for you! I wanted to help you but you wouldn't let me!"

"All my life I've been alone!" Gwen responded, her voice occasionally verging on a wail. "The only one who would ever talk to me apart from Kenny was that dweeb of a cousin of mine! I thought that knowing you would change that but now I'm back to being alone and I hate it! It hurts Julie! It hurts so much!" Suddenly, I had Gwen's face buried into my chest. I wept onto her hair as she wept onto my blouse.

"Gwen," I said after a while. "You've _got_ to talk to me. I… Friends have got to have _trust_."

I felt Gwen's hands tighten in their grip on me. Finally, she sucked in a shuddering breath and looked up into my eyes. "Julie, I meant it when I said that there are some secrets that aren't mine to tell. Now you've got to promise me. You've got to swear that, no matter how much what I tell you disgusts or frightens you, you can't tell _anyone_."

"Gwen, has… has someone hurt you?" I couldn't tell you what I was thinking. The possibility came to mind that she and Ben could have been attacked on their road-trip… maybe that she had been _raped_? Worse still that maybe someone… maybe her weird Grandpa Max…? had been abusing her? That maybe it was _still happening_?

Gwen managed a bitter laugh. "Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. This secret is not about my being hurt though, although it _does_ have a bearing on _why_ I've been hurt. Please swear Julie."

I thought hard for a moment before speaking. "I swear that I will never reveal what you tell me unless I am satisfied that it is in your best interests to reveal that secret or that others are in danger."

Gwen grinned. "Someone wants to be a lawyer," she snarked. She sucked in a breath. "Julie… I'm a witch."

I blinked. I probably looked pretty stupid as I sat and tried to understand what the problem was supposed to be. "Um… so, you've started to follow Wicca? That's cool, I guess. I mean, I'm a sort of a Buddhist so I kind of believe in the power of the self to change the world!" I was babbling. Certainly, I missed the look of mixed exasperation and humour on Gwen's face. "But what's the big deal? You know that religion doesn't really bother me that much! I'm not going to ostracise you because you've…"

Gwen put a finger on my lips to silence me. "Julie, that isn't it. I haven't become a Wiccan. It's because I'm a _witch_. As in hocus-pocus, waving my hand and weird stuff happening. I can use _magic_."

My response was automatic although, given my oriental background, maybe it shouldn't have been. "There is no such thing as magic."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Oh, good. That means I can't do this then." She turned towards the locked door and raised her hand. I caught a subtle motion of her hand as she intoned: "_Alohorma Portas_!" The door then unlocked and swung open.

My memories of that climactic revelation end there. I can only emphasise what I told Gwen at the time: I _don't_ faint.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Gwen and I were sitting around the kitchen nook table, sipping on a green herbal tea that reminded me of my grandmother's favourite blends. Gwen had begun to tell me a story. She warned me that the story would have gaps and blank spots in it because there were some secrets that she was bound never to reveal to any outsider. However, she swore that she would tell me everything that she could and I took her at her word.

The story I heard… If Gwen had not sworn to me that she would tell the truth and if I had not seen her powers in action, then I would have called her a liar, stormed out and never even _looked_ at her again. What she told me tore apart forever the comforting illusion that the world could ever be 'normal' or 'safe'. She told me of her family's history and its cross-generational association with a band of secret warriors known as the Plumbers.

Yeah, it sounds like a joke, doesn't it? But, just as you call a plumber to handle certain, special tasks, so, if a government has a uniquely unusual sort of problem, then they call in the Plumbers. There _were_ such things as aliens from space. There _was_ such a thing as magic. Earth was one of myriads of inhabited worlds, most of which were vastly more technically advanced and were no closer to eliminating criminality than we are. There were even threats from whole other _universes_ that occasionally slipped through unseen cracks in the very fabric of reality. The Plumbers were a combination of the Men in Black, Starship Troopers and X-Com. Since as far back as the end of the Second World War, they have been the men and women standing on the unseen wall between our safe, predictable little world and the unfathomable horrors and threats of the wider universe.

Gwen's paternal grandfather, Max, was one of the Plumbers' greatest heroes. A kind of a combination of Indiana Jones, Wyatt Earp, Sergeant Rock and Captain Kirk all rolled into one larger-than-life hero. I hadn't ever met Max Tennyson but I could tell from the way Gwen spoke about him that the old man was her current idol and hero. Gwen explained that being a Plumber was kind of the 'family business'. Both of her parents and both of Ben's parents were also Plumbers (although their mothers were inactive and only on the 'reservist' rolls now). There was an edge of pride in her voice when she confirmed that she and Ben had chosen to follow the same path. Now, at last, I understood why the Tennyson family always seemed 'different'. It was because they _were_, in the most dramatic way possible.

Gwen's story skirted around several matters but she confirmed that several things happened to her and Ben during their road trip with their grandfather that had suddenly and traumatically introduced the two younger Tennysons to the Plumbers' dangerous world. Despite my prodding, Gwen wouldn't go into too many details. Yes, there _were_ fights, both against aliens and against super-powered humans. She and Ben had got involved, despite their grandfather's best efforts to protect them.

Gwen was frustratingly evasive about Ben's role. Yes, he had powers although they were nothing like hers. Those were his secrets to reveal, she told me, assuming that he ever freely chose to do so. She pleaded with me not to approach Ben directly. They had both been sworn to secrecy and he would simply deny it if challenged. He might even report the incident to the Plumbers' support organisation, something that would get both me and Gwen in serious trouble. "My life is pretty much in your hands, Julie!" How could I fail to be touched by that trust?

Gwen may have denied any interest in the Wicca faith, but I found the ceremony we performed in the back yard of her home to be quite mystical anyway. After Gwen drew a circular mystical rune on the ground, we both stripped buck naked and stepped inside. Gwen produced a beautifully-decorated ceremonial knife and slashed the palms of our left hands. Then we stood, our cut hands bound together with leather straps whilst Gwen murmured a spell over and over again. She explained that the ceremony was to make us blood-sisters, bound to loyalty to each other and to keep each other's secrets forever with a power that would mean doom for the betrayer.

Why would I submit to such a thing? Because I _wanted_ Gwen's trust as much as she wanted mine. If I was bound to her, it also meant that she was bound to me.

* * *

As I walked home, occasionally staring in disbelief at my left hand – after Gwen had unbound our hands, I found that the knife-slash had vanished without so much as a mark! – I found myself thinking about Ben. So much suddenly made sense. His suddenly gaining focus and discipline all came from his finding a purpose in life.

Not that long ago, when I had turned fourteen, my parents had told me of my own family's history. They had impressed upon me the courageous service that my ancestors had carried out for their nation, whether history had judged their cause right or wrong, and of the burden of _honour_, what we Japanese call _Bushido_ – The Way of the Warrior. A Warrior did not seek publicity or notoriety. He or she did the job without complaint to the best of his abilities. It was a trait sadly lacking in so many people today. However, with the revelation of these Plumbers, I seemed to have stumbled on a group of people who honoured these traits, who were satisfied with merely doing their duty in the shadows. My family had a history of duty and service; did I thus have a responsibility to honour that history by joining this fight?

The streets of Bellwood had changed as I walked home. I looked around me and I realised that this was not the be-all and end-all of life after all. What had before seemed so concrete, so secure and so real now had a _dream-_like feeling; like I was walking through an illusory world and that, for the first time, I was beginning to see the reality hidden behind it. I now realised that there were things 'out there' that were beyond the imagining of most folk; certainly beyond mine.

I decided that I would honour Gwen's request about not directly approaching Ben but that I would keep an eye on that boy from now on. Especially in light of something Gwen had told me about her cousin: "He's changed, Julie. He isn't the 'dweeb' anymore. Oh, he can still be exasperating, lazy and big-headed. But everything that's happened to us has changed him. He's learnt responsibility and forethought. He tries to do the right thing. I mean, he always did when it counted, I realise that now, but it's become more a constant thing with him. I really think he is growing up into a man!"

I thought back to that 10-year-old boy who put himself in the way of danger to protect a girl who was a total stranger. I thought about how his first concern was not _his_ injuries but _mine_. I thought of his quick temper, clear understanding of fairness and that deep sense of responsibility that quickly came out when he wasn't railing against an unfair world. I suddenly realised that a guy like Ben _would_ always find some great cause to fight for. I wondered just what tools he brought to that fight and just how I might find out about them.

_To be continued…_


	4. The Secret War

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Every Superman Needs A Lois Lane

By BenRG

* * *

**Disclaimer**

'Ben 10' and 'Ben 10 – Alien Force' were created by Man of Action for The Cartoon Network.

The author claims no ownership or rights over the copyrighted and trademarked entities portrayed herein. This is a not-for-profit fan story for free distribution through the world-wide web.

**Censor: T**

**Chapter 4 – The Secret War**

Freshman year came and went. Gwen and I were slowly getting closer again. It had been a hard, traumatic break and it was difficult for us to regain that sense of trust and mutual devotion that we had as ten-year-olds.

Rebuilding our friendship was that much harder because there remained things that Gwen and I could not even talk about in private, let alone openly. She had secrets about which I was slowly coming to terms with the fact that I would never be allowed to know them. Gwen insisted that this was for my protection and that I would be better off pretending that the Plumbers and the secret world that they inhabited didn't exist. I told her that it would be easier for me to feign blindness.

Nonetheless, we were friends once again and were spending time together, regaining our close understanding of each other, our dreams, our fears and our ambitions and our loves.

I quickly learnt that, despite her having become more socially outgoing, Gwen was still considered an outsider and 'abnormal' by many of her peers. People looked at me strangely for hanging out with Gwen. They wanted to know what was wrong with me; didn't I have enough 'normal' friends? I told them that I had plenty but that a girl _needed_ a little abnormality in her life. Gwen thought that was _very_ funny and I later learned that she adopted that as a catch-phrase when dealing with the stranger aspects of her own life.

Meanwhile, I had found that my new pass-time of 'Ben watching' was turning into a serious hobby to the point where, much to my horror, I found myself actually keeping a _notebook_ of my observations. The blow was made that much more bitter by the fact that Gwen considered my obsession hilarious and fodder for endless good-natured teasing (although her hacking into my cellphone and changing the ring-tone to Michael Jackson's 'Ben' was a step too far and led to our first public fight).

However, it seemed that I had not been as subtle as I had thought. Ben had noticed me watching him and I caught him looking back at soccer games. I blushed like I was that ten-year-old with a crush again. I would have suspected Gwen of informing on me to her cousin if she had not sworn she had not done so and I felt a tingling in my left hand that assured me she was telling the truth.

Ben was so much nicer now, in these early weeks of sophomore year, than he was as a ten-year-old. He had an easy-going wit but it was the magnetic level of subtle self-confidence (which, frankly, Gwen shared) that caught and held the feminine attention. He never lacked for fans from the more socially outgoing groups of girls who often subtly or even overtly fought for his attention. I have to say that I despaired as to whether I would have any chance to build a relationship with him. After all, I was hardly a buxom blonde bombshell.

Gwen told me that I was being stupid and insisted that I take the initiative. "He's a _boy_!" she reminded me. "He isn't going to figure this out himself so you'll have to take him by the nose and lead him to it yourself!" Then my best friend added in a more _sotto_ voice: "Though why you are interested in _him_, I'll never know!"

* * *

I was fretting about this issue when I realised that, for the fourth or fifth time, Ben Tennyson had been watching me at Tennis practice. _Okay, this is it, girl_, I told myself. _It isn't exactly launching a surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet, but it is still a time to find your courage and see if you've got the guts to cash the check you've been writing out for a year now._

After wiping off the worst of my sweat, I wandered over to where Ben, who was looking a bit nervous, was standing by the chain-link fence around the school's tennis courts. As I approached, I caught Ben's eye and the boy watched me warily. I wondered if I should have showered first. I have never understood those who claim the smell of sweat is attractive. "Um… Hi!" I said. "Been a long time since we've had the chance to talk!"

At my words, Ben Tennyson, the cousin of Gwen Tennyson, the boy who I knew _for a fact_ had faced down creatures that exclusively populate only the worst nightmares of most boys of his age, blushed and looked ready to run. "Um… yeah!" he agreed, a bit sheepishly. "You… you're really good at tennis! I mean, not _pro_ good yet… Um.. I mean, you're still better than everyone else on the team! Anyway, you're better than Gwen, I know that!"

I would have been offended at Ben's critique of my skills if I had not seen him visibly wince and mentally slap himself for it. I tried to think of something to say and, in the absence of any thoughts, my mouth decided to make stuff up. "Thanks! You're really good at soccer too! You were great at your last game!" I couldn't resist adding: "Not _pro_ good yet, of course!"

Ben grimaced but couldn't help chuckle. "Walked into that one didn't I?" I nodded with what I was worried was a silly-looking smile. "I caught you watching me. I guess that's why I'm returning the favour!"

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I was by no means the only girl who watched Ben play. Somehow I doubted that he was doing the same for them too. "Yeah, well you know me and Gwen have got our friendship working again?" Ben nodded. "Well… I guess that I've been looking for a chance to talk to you too. I…" I broke off. "I guess I was nervous about how you'd react!"

Ben looked at me in the strangest way and I felt my treacherous blush start again. His regard was a bit _too_ close and I wondered if his unspecified powers included mind-reading or something similar. "Julie…" he said at last. Then he smiled, a smile that I hadn't seen of late. It had the same effect as that last time that I saw it, when we were both ten and swinging from ropes over the Bellwood River – it made my stomach go flip-flops and made my cheeks burn. "Julie, you shouldn't ever feel afraid of me! I mean… weren't we friends too? Anyway, Gwen was so miserable when you stopped being her friend! Having you back has made her a _lot_ easier to deal with, so I think I owe you one!"

This made me blink. Ben and Gwen fought like wildcats when they were younger. That had stopped (at least in public) as they grew up but this was still the first time I'd heard him admit with his own lips that her happiness was important to him. "I missed her too," I admitted.

Whilst my mind tried to come up with some further conversational tack, Ben looked around nervously and half-turned to leave. "Look… uh… you probably want a shower. It's… uh… been good to talk to you again. See you around?" He started to go and panic overrode my nervousness.

"Ben, wait!" Ben turned back to look at me, a look of genuine surprise on his face. "Um… maybe…? Maybe after practice one day…? Uh… Yours or mine… Um… We could…? We could… hang out together maybe?"

Ben's face did an interesting thing. First he went bleached white, then bright red whilst he swallowed convulsively several times. Finally, he grinned in a genuinely happy way. "Um… Yeah! Yeah, that'd be cool!" Suddenly, his fingers were touching the back of my hand and I felt my heart begin to race like after a long, hard rally. "Uh… nothing formal, I mean…!" he murmured in embarrassment.

"No, of course not!" I agreed, hardly aware of what I was agreeing to.

Suddenly, Ben's cellphone rang. His ring-tone was, perhaps inevitably, Bonnie Tyler's '_I'm Holding Out For a Hero_'. "Oh man," Ben spat as he saw the caller ID. "Julie, can I take a rain-check? Something's come up!" I nodded, still in a bit of a trance, and watched him run off.

I watched him go and suddenly, felt lighter and happier than I could remember ever having been before.

* * *

When it began, it began in the most anticlimactic way imaginable. There were no mysterious meteors falling from the skies. There were no alien ultimatums transmitted on all Earth's TV channels. There were no fifteen-mile-wide UFOs hovering over Earth's greatest cities. It began with the disappearances.

Now, in any given year, there are tens of thousands of unexplained disappearances. People have accidents out in the wilderness or simply lose contact with everyone they know and never see the need (or have the ability) to reconnect to them. However, no matter how well the authorities tried to hide it, this rash of disappearances was something unusual, occurring as it did in a sudden spike of events all over the globe. They were also not the usual kind of people either – they included family men and women, sometimes entire families who just suddenly vanished leaving behind jobs, dependants, homes and sometimes even children who were at school or camp when the adults simply vanished.

My parents tried to reassure me. It was somehow both comforting and annoying that they tried to hide the significance of the sudden increased police presence in town and the tightened security at school. They simply advised me to be careful and imposed a pretty rigorous sunset curfew – just about everyone's parents did; lots of places became ghost-towns after sunset.

After the initial surge, the disappearances continued at a low 'noise' level and remained stubbornly outside of the stereotype of the single adult or teenager. The initial panic died down and I was allowed out after sunset again. However, people remained on edge. My own fears were only amplified by the fact that Gwen confirmed that the Plumbers were concerned enough to re-activate her grandfather to full active status and assign him to find the answers to this mystery. This was an enormous relief to Gwen because amongst the 'disappeared' was her older brother, Ken.

The threat hung over us all for those closing months of autumn. I could tell that Ben and Gwen were both worried about their grandfather and what these events might mean for the greater safety of the world. Their grade averages began to drop and I noticed that the harshness and hardness that had frightened me off years ago was back. This time, though, I swore that I would not abandon them, especially now, when I was needed.

Another oath that would have effects that I could not have possibly have guessed.

* * *

Maybe I just have an enhanced sense of aesthetics thanks to my mother's artistic nature but I could sit for _hours_ watching Gwen meditate as she seeks to centre herself and focus her powers. Maybe it is just the place she chooses to sit, in the woods just to the east of town where the river isn't cluttered with boat traffic. She sits in a shaft of sunlight, cross-legged wearing nothing but a beautiful white silk shift, bound at the waist with a thick blue belt with bronze ornaments that she calls '_The Five Charms of Bezel_'. As I watch, the whole world seems to fall into her as if she was drawing on the sunlight, the flow of the river, the breeze and on even the _sound_ of the wind to give herself strength and focus.

I was so far gone into a trance of my own that I didn't immediately notice when Gwen came out of her own trance and turned to look at me. "Julie?"

I blinked a bit to get my brain on-line again and was shocked by the look of grief on my normally-strong best friend's face. "Gwen! What…?"

"They took Grandpa, Julie! They took him!" Suddenly, Gwen was in my arms, weeping like a baby, desperate for reassurance.

It all came out in a rush. 'They' were called the _Highbreed_.

The Highbreed were an ancient race, far older than any of the other civilisations of the galaxy. With that age came arrogance. They assumed that they were inherently superior to the younger species of the galaxy. It was somehow depressing that racism, something that was a continual and irritating thorn in my side, should be a universal constant in the galaxy at large. Not just idle prejudice either, but a genocidal xenophobia of the same kind that motivated the worst atrocities of human history. It would have been bad enough if the Highbreed's chauvinism had led to prejudice, injustice and empire-building. However, they had taken it to the ultimate degree. In their perverted view of the universe, as they were the oldest and most 'perfect' form of life in the galaxy, then the 'inferior' younger races were 'mongrels' – an imperfection on the face of creation that needed to be eradicated. Their goal was simply to _exterminate_ every other sentient race in the universe.

And now they were pursuing their aims here on Earth.

Gwen explained that the Highbreed were responsible for the rash of disappearances. They had developed a biological weapon called the Xenocite that, when attached to a sentient life-form, mutated it into a mind-controlled worker/soldier drone unable to do anything but carry out its' masters' collective will. The army of these creatures (which Gwen told me Ben had dubbed 'DNAliens') that my friends had faced in a pitched battle included tens of thousands of abducted humans; men, women and children. I could feel the utter horror in her voice as she recalled being forced to use lethal force to protect herself against what she knew were innocent and helpless pawns of the Highbreed's plots.

I was still in utter shock, unable to process the scale of the threat suddenly facing the world as Gwen continued her story. Her grandfather had gone missing whilst looking into Highbreed activity on Earth. Very much against the instructions of the Plumbers' leadership, over the past month or so, Ben and Gwen, aided by someone named Kevin, had followed up on a few of Max Tennyson's leads, which had led them to rescuing Gwen's older brother, Ken, from being turned into a DNAlien. In turn, Ken was able to remember enough from his time as a transformed slave to lead them to a Highbreed base _not far from Bellwood_! There they had witnessed what Gwen was sure were her grandfather's last moments alive when he used some kind of Plumber weapon to suck the contents of the entire Highbreed base into a parallel dimension.

"J… Just before he went through the portal, he said something to Ben," Gwen murmured into my chest as I hugged her.

"What?"

"He said… He said: 'Take it from here.'"

* * *

I didn't know what to do or what to think. It was strangely easy beforehand, to simply ignore the fact that my best friend was a trainee superhero whose desired career involved fighting aliens, superhumans and monsters from other planes of existence. Then the threat was 'out there' and looking me in the face.

My first instinct was to run and hide but where could I go? The Highbreed had been planning to destroy Bellwood and 'sterilise' the entire county with nuclear bombs when Ben and Gwen stopped them for the first time (leading to Ben's injuries that had raised such suspicions amongst the school authorities at the time). Yet… what else could I do? I didn't have super powers; I had an acceptable level of proficiency at Judo, Kung-fu and Kendo, but that was nothing against super-strong aliens and their mind-controlled tools! Worse, how could I fight something that would _take control of my body away from me_?

My dad probably thought I was either hysterical or going mad when I begged him for his advice that night. I don't know how I explained my dilemma to him without exposing Gwen and Ben's secrets but I will always remember what he told me:

"Julie, I was so proud when you befriended the Tennyson kids. Do you know why? Because you refused to let injustice stand. By your actions, you forced me to face up to the fact that by _allowing_ injustice you give it your tacit support. You reminded me that our family is by heritage a family of _warriors_ and do _not_ cower before 'popular opinion' or any other supposedly-overwhelming force. We always should live by our honour, no matter how hard or how frightening the responsibilities that this brings upon us."

I spent a long time thinking about that. I'm pretty sure Gwen and my other friends at school wondered why I looked like I hadn't slept a wink the night before. That was because I hadn't.

Dad was right. I couldn't run and, most importantly, I _shouldn't_ run. I'm no superhero, I know, but that doesn't relieve me of my responsibility towards my friends, my community, my species and my world. Whatever small part I could play, even if it was nothing more than loading guns or running a desk in a supply depot somewhere, whatever contribution I could make to this fight I had a _moral obligation_ to offer.

However, even then, I realised that my part wasn't going to be the obvious one. Just as Gwen needed a friend, then so did Ben, even more so with the clear fact that his grandfather had chosen him as his successor to complete his last mission. Such a burden would crush a grown man, let alone a barely fifteen-year-old boy. More than anything else, someone in such a position would need a friend, someone to ease the burden upon him.

Until I found some way to convince Gwen to let me join the Plumbers, if only as a reservist, this is the part that I would play in this undeclared war.

_To be continued…_


	5. Beyond the Walls of the World Part 1

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Every Superman Needs A Lois Lane

By BenRG

* * *

**Disclaimer**

'Ben 10' and 'Ben 10 – Alien Force' were created by Man of Action for The Cartoon Network.

The author claims no ownership or rights over the copyrighted and trademarked entities portrayed herein. This is a not-for-profit fan story for free distribution through the world-wide web.

**Author's Notes**

Boy! Has this story taken on a life of its own! In my initial story planning, this was going to be the last chapter. Now, one last chapter has become two and then four including an epilogue! By way of an excuse, I can only say that Julie demanded that I tell her story properly.

Right – a warning. The story goes firmly AU from here on. I haven't seen Ben 10 – Alien Force; heck, it isn't even shown on any TV channels I can get and I can't find anywhere it is posted (legally) on the Internet. So, I have had to go by the very minimalist episode summaries on Wikipedia. This is thus, how _I_ would have done Pier Pressure based on those few details.

**Censor: T**

**Chapter 5 – Beyond the Walls of the World I Knew (Part 1)**

Whilst I was busy trying to work out a way to get closer to Ben and how best to assist in what I feared would be a long, bloody struggle, the dynamics of the group were already changing thanks to the appearance of a young man named Kevin.

I had already heard of Kevin in passing from Gwen. My best friend seemed to have very mixed feelings about this tall, dark and brooding young man and, when she told me the whole story of Kevin Levin and his past dealings with the Tennyson Family, I could see why. It filled me with horror to realise that Gwen and Ben were often having to rely on the assistance of this… _creep_ who had tried to kill them in the past!

"Ben isn't entirely sure about him," Gwen revealed to me. "But he keeps on saying that we've got to judge him on who and what he is _now_. We can't let our perceptions be moulded by who he _was_!"

I nodded thoughtfully. "I guess that's fair. We all change with time."

"I guess…"

Gwen's voice was distant and her eyes were not seeing me. I saw the chance for a quick tease. "So… what do _you_ think of him?" Gwen's fair redhead's complexion makes her very vulnerable to a blush and I could see one starting now. I pointed at my best friend triumphantly. "_Aha_! You've got a crush on the 'bad boy' ex-villain!"

"Julie! I haven't!" Gwen yelped. I raised an eyebrow and Gwen's blush got a bit worse. "Look… at most he's an ally of convenience, right? He feels some kind of debt of honour because we saved his life from this alien psycho called Vulkanus and he's trying to pay that off! Most of the time he's…" Gwen grimaced and growled slightly. "He's _such_ a pain in the butt! He's worse than Ben sometimes! Always so cocksure and smarmy! He just gets me so _mad_!"

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. The was a significant number of girls in our class whose boyfriends were initially the guy who 'got them mad'.

"Half the time I don't even know what side he's on!" Gwen added hotly. "I mean, he's only sixteen and he's already dealer in alien weapons! He stole Grandpa's RV a few weeks ago and tried to sell its secret Plumber parts! Then he turns around and says he wants to fight on our side!"

I thought about that seriously. "So, he's dangerous and maybe has his own agenda?" I asked. Gwen nodded. "Yet he has fought alongside you?"

"He takes risks even _Ben_ thinks are crazy," Gwen admitted.

I nodded. "Seems to me that he's got something to prove," I suggested after a moment's thought.

Gwen sighed. "He makes me feel… uncomfortable?" she said at last. "Most of the time he tries to come off harsh and all business. Then as we're going home, I catch him staring after me like… like he's afraid he'll never seem me again! I… I just don't know how to handle it!"

I put a hand on my best friend's knee. "You know, when I was little, I was told to 'watch out for those Tennysons'. Sometimes I guess you've got to look beyond the conventional wisdom to see the real person."

"I guess…" Gwen's sigh held a tone of defeat.

* * *

The next day, I was able to make my own observations of Kevin Levin. The young man in question was sitting in the town centre malt bar, Mr. Smoothie's, with Gwen and Ben. I could immediately tell damaged goods when I saw it. The long hair, dark clothes and obvious stoic manner were all obvious signs of that. However, I also saw what Gwen had told me: when she and Ben weren't looking, he would stare at Gwen with this weird longing, hopeful look.

If there _was_ a crush developing, it was clearly a mutual one.

I finished off my Smoothie and walked out. As I passed Gwen, Ben and Kevin, I heard Ben talking. "So, you guys going to the fair?" At this time of the year, Bellwood's town council held a carnival and fair. As well as marking the Thanksgiving holiday, it also climaxed with a grand fireworks display on the anniversary of the founding of the town.

"Nah," Kevin said. "I'm not too much for fairs."

"Why not?" Ben wanted to know. "It'd be fun!"

Kevin sighed. "Tennyson, funfairs are a bit of a sore subject with me. Too many families and too many young couples doing the 'love and together' thing."

Ben opened his mouth but Gwen elbowed him to shut him up. I was as able to interpret Kevin's words easily enough – an orphan of some kind. Certainly currently lacking anything that could be a 'family'. I wondered if Gwen understood the significance of the way that he looked at her when he said 'love and together'. Realising that I was eavesdropping on someone else's conversation, I left the shop.

A little later, I was in the town square, looking at the advertisement fliers for the funfair. I, for one, was looking forward to it. The fair was always fun with rides sure to excite and thrill, lots of games as well as all the unhealthy food you could eat. However, I decided that Kevin was right: It _wasn't_ something that you should attend alone. I wondered if I could talk my parents into taking me.

"Gwen! Let me go! I can do this myself!"

"Would you do it if I wasn't dragging you there?"

"Uh… well…!"

"Ben, trust me when I tell you that she _isn't_ a mind reader. You will have to _ask_. See, here she is!"

"Oh _man_!"

I turned around and wondered what exactly was going on to set off the two younger Tennysons. A very dejected and nervous-looking Ben was being dragged towards me by Gwen. Gwen, who had a particularly evil smirk on her face that told me at once that mischief was afoot.

"Hey, Julie!" Gwen called out. "Fancy meeting you here! Isn't it a coincidence Ben?" Ben grimaced before receiving a lethal glare from my best friend and nodding frantically. "We were just talking about you! Ben has something to ask you, don't you?"

I am very proud to say that I didn't laugh. Poor Ben looked like he wanted to shrivel away like a fruit left in the sunlight too long. Gwen pushed him forward and winked at me.

"Hey, Ben," I said neutrally. I wondered what was up.

"Um… h… hey Julie," he responded. "Uh… I see… uh… you're… uh…"

Gwen rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something. I shot her a venomous look. "Hey, Gwen, see you later, yeah?" Give her credit, my best friend and blood sister is no one's fool. She nodded reluctantly, waved farewell and walked off. I turned back to my one-time crush and smiled as reassuringly as I could. "What can I do for you, Ben?"

Ben looked right at me and I felt myself captured by those green eyes. I couldn't think of anything to say, so we stood there for a few moments, just looking at each other. "Er… no, it's stupid," Ben said at last, breaking eye contact to look down.

"What?" I asked curiously. "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

"No!" Ben responded. "Your face is _perfect_…! Uh! Oh _man_! I mean… I mean… er…!" I went bright red and so did Ben as he continued to stutter, looking frantically around himself. Finally he stopped and looked down to draw in a deep breath. I was half afraid that he was about to faint when he chuckled self-deprecatingly and ran his hand through his hair. "Look, of course you don't want to go with me to the stupid fair! It was stupid to even think it and even stupider for Gwen to drag me over to ask! I'm _really_…"

"Woah, woah, woah!" I protested, waving my hands in a 'slow down' gesture. "Back up, Ben. What was that about the fair?"

"Um… I was wondering… if… if you'd like to go to the Thanksgiving Weekend Fair with me? Saturday night?" Ben said quietly, his face pale. "If… if you haven't got other plans, I mean!"

At that point, I couldn't get my brain to work. A boy… no, not just _any_ boy but my one-time crush who I had been obsessing over for months… _was asking me out to the fair_! I just stood there, staring at Ben with my lips slightly parted in shock.

Ben mistook my surprise for rejection and panicked. "Look, like I said, stupid idea! I'm sorry, Julie, please don't be mad!" He looked nearly ready to flee, burst into tears or both.

"No! No I'm not mad!" I nearly shouted, attracting a lot of attention from passers-by. I blushed and modulated my tone. "It… it was kind of a coincidence because I was thinking about how it would suck to go to the fair alone!"

Ben grimaced. "I know! Gwen is studying and Kevin says he 'doesn't do fairs', whatever that's supposed to mean!" Ben looked at me, the plea in his eyes very clear. "So… uh…?"

"Ben, I'd love to go to the fair with you!" I think that if I was smiling any wider, I'd have cracked my face open.

Ben's sudden beaming smile made the day seem a bit lighter and clearer. "Really? No kidding?" He shook his head. "Uh… just as _friends_, of course!"

I nodded, still grinning. "Oh, of course! Can't have the air-heads at school start gossiping, yeah?"

* * *

I'm glad that I talked my mom out of trying to get me to dress as it was a formal dance date or something. My white jeans and pink hoodie over a black tank-top was more than sufficient and were both tough enough to handle hot dogs, candy-floss and whatever else came my way (either eaten or sat in – in my experience of the fair, stuff gets messy pretty quickly). Still… she was right about putting on a little lip gloss and my new ear-studs. I'm not an impartial judge but I felt… _pretty_.

Ben arrived dead on the mark at 6pm to collect me. He endured a glare and some terse questions from my dad as I extracted myself from mom's last-minute fussing over my hair. I was pleased to notice Ben's eyes tracking up and down my legs, clad in my slightly-tighter-than-necessary jeans and mentally thanked Gwen for talking me into buying these high-heel boots. My dad extracted an oath from Ben to get me home by nine and then we were away and clear.

What is there to say? A girl's first date is a special thing and it is that much more special when the boy is like Ben. He's funny, charming and quite considerate really. He spent a lot of time showing off and trying to win prizes for me. We went on lots of rides together (and I enjoyed his tight embrace on the Haunted House ride) and learnt that there was nothing funnier than eating an ice cream sundae together with only one spoon.

The fair was held at the old loading docks where produce would be loaded into barges to be carried up river and then sail up the coast to various cities for sale at their markets. After grabbing a hot dog and a soda each, we went down to one of the old piers to get away from the crowd (not an unusual thing for a pair of teens to do, given the number of shadowy figures we passed). We sat on one deserted pier and ate in silence.

After finishing up, I felt the need to speak. I grabbed his nearest hand and squeezed, looking into his eyes. "I enjoyed this evening, Ben. It was great! Thank you!"

Ben smiled back and I felt my stomach do its familiar flip-flop in response. "I enjoyed it too. Thank you for coming with me." We were now looking at each other and both smiling. We were perhaps just leaning a bit closer together when Ben's 'watch', the manacle-like thing strapped to his left forearm that Gwen had confirmed was alien in origin (but had remained frustratingly evasive as to its purpose), suddenly emitted a loud double-beep.

I looked down at the machine in annoyance, silently cursing it for the interruption. It had been doing this all evening but, in the last hour or so, it had started doing it more frequently. "What is wrong with that thing? Is its battery running down?"

Double-beep. "I don't know," Ben admitted. "I don't think so. It never has before. I don't think it _can_!" Double-beep. This time I noticed that the green hourglass-shaped illuminated display flashed along with the bleeps.

I sighed. "Well, that's a mood killer," I said quietly, my words partly lost to yet another double-beep.

At that point, the thing happened that irrevocably changed my life. The thing that finally knocked down the walls of my safe, everyday world and forced me to live fully in the far wider, far more wonderful and far more dangerous world that Gwen had told me about so often. The sound of voices from the fair had got louder during our conversation, in fact they had started to sound like screams. I realised why when the roller-coaster reached down and snatched me off the pier.

I'll repeat that because it bears saying again for clarity.

_The roller-coaster reached down and snatched me off the pier._

At least it _was_ the roller-coaster when I saw it last. The parts were now all shifting around each other to create a weird, skeletal multi-limbed form that was striding along like something from one of dad's old Godzilla movies. I'd be proud to say that I didn't scream but that would be a lie. I screamed like a damsel in distress in an old black-and-white monster movie and beat uselessly at the weird metal pincer, covered with glowing green lines like circuitry, that was holding me firmly but not painfully.

I saw Ben dancing around the flailing feet of the monster. He didn't seem to be trying to _escape_; if anything, he seemed to be trying to scale the limbs made up of track sections whilst avoiding other pincers. He was shouting something, probably reassurances to me but just as possibly threats at the monster. The old pier was rattling from side to side from the monster's weight and Ben was suddenly hard-pressed to avoid being tossed in the river.

For some reason, Ben was fiddling with his watch. The display was shining much more brightly Was it some kind of signalling device? Was he calling the Plumbers for help?

Then something happened that I will never forget. Ben barely dodged a flailing metal limb and slammed his hand down on the face of the device. Suddenly, his body was surrounded by a bright halo of green light. As I watched, his head swelled up and took on a chitinous, insect-like aspect. His body seemed to atrophy away and his limbs lengthened and hardened so that they became crab-like claws. Four more leg-claws burst from Ben's hips as his clothing seemed to just melt away.

Ben-crab looked at his pincers and I _swear_ he seemed to sag in depression. "_Brainstorm?_" it hiss-clicked. "_Oh man! Why does this only ever happen whenever it counts?_"

The fading of the green light seemed to release some hidden 'pause' button and the monster lunged. However, the descending metal limb was met with a lightning-bright flash of electricity shot from the Ben-crab creature's head. The blast flash-slagged the metal and the limb dropped away. The entire structure seemed to groan as if in pain.

"_I don't know who you are and what your damage is, pal, but you've chosen the wrong date to crash!_" With surprising speed and agility, the Ben-crab-thing suddenly began to scale the metal framework of the monster, occasionally lashing out with electrical blasts to deflect flailing tentacle-like cables, which had more of the strange green circuitry patterns on them. Suddenly, the creature that had been my date was almost on top of me. Its powerful pincers reached out and with a loud 'click' sound, severed the metal 'fingers' holding me at their base joints. I screamed, braced myself for a fall and realised that I was, instead, floating in an energy field. In seconds, I was in the creature's… pincers, hanging onto its chitinous body for dear life as the energy field enveloped us both in a cool blue bubble. "_Hang on, Julie,_" it advised. "_We're on an express elevator, going down!_" And so we were. I screamed again but, instead of an impact, we _bounced_ like a pinball twice before the bubble dispersed and we landed on the concrete of the dockside, Ben-crab's six legs absorbing the force easily.

I could be wrong, but the monster seemed to look at us in confusion for a few moments before ponderously moving towards us. Much to my surprise, the Ben-crab looked at me and I could _swear_ it shot me a wink and Ben's mischievous smile before looking back at the monster. "_You know, I'm a man of action… but sometimes it's just best to think things through!_" At that point, its _head_ opened up, exposing its brains (yuck!) and a bright blue-white storm of lightning emerged, surrounding the monster, which seemed to freeze. After a moment, it just broke apart and collapsed into the river, nothing but scrap metal.

The crab-thing released me and I staggered back, not sure whether I should run or whether I should hug it for saving me. As I watched, it touched a black plate with a grey hourglass-shaped inset on the centre of its thorax. There was a bright red flash and… once again Ben stood before me.

I wasn't so scared that I couldn't see the look of terror on Ben's face, the plea for time and understanding in his eyes. "Julie… please don't be scared!" he called out. "I won't hurt you!" Poor Ben! Still, I can't blame him for being worried. _Most_ girls would run away from him and never stop running after that experience!

However, most girls don't count Gwen Tennyson as their best friend and most girls had not been semi-obsessively analysing him for months, looking for clues to his hinted-at but undefined powers! I actually think I quite surprised Ben when I ran over and hugged him in excitement and glee. "So _that's _your power! You can turn into… into that crab thing?" Ben gave me a weird look. However, I was so thrilled at this revelation that he didn't have a chance to ask any questions. I broke the hug to grab his arm and stared at his 'watch' in fascination. "Your watch!" I crowed. "You did something with your watch and transformed! How does it work?"

Ben looked a bit like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights. I came down enough from my fear/elation high to get control of myself and remember the situation. "Um… thanks for the save, by the way." I backed off to give Ben some space and tried not to look too nervous as I wrung my hands.

We both blushed. Ben took a moment to gather himself. "Yeah… well, as the secret seems to be out… Julie, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine. It's called the Omnitrix!"

Ben was quite the story-teller. As we stood on the dockside, he filled me in on the story of the alien tool on his wrist. Yes, _tool_, not _weapon_. He explained that the Omnitrix was meant to be a tool of peace, empathy and understanding, to allow people to understand other species by letting them _live_ as them for a short time. He explained how he came to find the Omnitrix and how this was the trigger for his life to change forever. He told me of his adventures that summer of the road trip and, at last, I understood him a little bit better. With his usual fear of rejection, he misinterpreted my thoughtful expression.

"I… I guess you must think I'm a freak," Ben said at last. His voice took on an urgent edge. "Look, you can't tell anyone about this! I'll get you home and never talk to you again if you want but you have to…!"

"Ben! It's okay!" I said. I stepped forward and squeezed his shoulders, trying to put as much sincerity into my face as I could. "Look… you saved me! I'm grateful for that! As for this…?" I looked at the Omnitrix and touched its smooth, strangely warm plastic face. "It's amazing! I guess… I guess I've found out what makes you so… unique!" I grinned. "Why have one set of powers when you can have _any_ kind from anywhere in the galaxy? This thing is _amazing_! _You're_ amazing!"

Ben blushed and rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. I suddenly lunged forward to hug him again. "Thank you!" I murmured into his chest as his arms reflexively closed around me.

"I… uh… yeah…" Ben laughed nervously. "You'll… you'll be okay!" Suddenly I felt Ben stiffen. "Julie…!" I looked up in the same direction as Ben was and saw something utterly… _weird_. There was something emerging from the water, a kind of sheet-like mass like a slug or worm with a black upper surface and a white under-surface. What caught my eye was that it had _the same green circuitry patterns as the monster_! I gasped and instinctively drew closer to Ben. My date's eyes hardened and, in that moment, I _knew_ that I was in the presence of a battle-hardened warrior and hero. "Oh man! Round two!" He looked at me with an urgent expression as he touched the Omnitrix. "Julie, _run_! I'll keep it occupied!"

"NO! I won't leave you alone!" Ben froze and gave me a weird look. Frankly, I felt stupid having said it. I mean… what could I bring to the fight?

As we hesitated, the thing suddenly tucked itself up into a kind of wheel shape and rolled towards us. "_Ship! Shiiip!_" it called out in a weird electronically-modulated tone of voice. It rolled towards us but swerved away at the last moment, instead circling around us, still calling out. Every now and then, it would break off its circling to roll off upstream along the bank of the river, away from the town. Finally, it rolled back and, as it passed behind us, it shot two bright green-white blasts of energy at our feet. We both jumped away as the blasts blew fist-sized craters into the concrete.

"Ow! That does it! I'm going Big Chill on your Mechamorphic butt!" Ben shouted, his hand went to the Omnitrix.

I think I've said before that my good nature occasionally gets the better of me. This was one of those occasions. I grabbed Ben's hand before he could set and activate the Omnitrix. "Ben! Wait! Don't hurt it!"

Ben shot me a look of utter disbelief. "Julie! It's _shooting_ at us!"

"No! It _isn't_! Something isn't right here! Why did it shoot the _ground_ and not _us_?"

Ben opened his mouth to reply but couldn't. We both back-pedalled away from another volley of shots that, once again, were aimed at the ground at our feet. "You're right, this is weird," Ben said, scowling in thought. "It's driving us in the direction it rolled towards earlier on!"

I then took an immense risk. I stepped away from Ben and jumped towards the creature, holding out my hands. "Hey! Stop! Just let us talk for a moment!"

I suspect Ben was very surprised when it did just that. I know that I was. It transformed into its slug-like original shape and looked up at me with a 'head' marked with a green circle that I found made me think of an eye in the centre of a face. "_Shiiip!_" it said.

"Hi… er…" I ran out of ideas. The 'eye' frowned and the creature returned to its wheel shape. It began to roll make a series of passes in front of me, slowly driving me back. "It's like a sheepdog, herding sheep!" I realised.

Ben nodded. "Yeah, it wants us to go somewhere, but why? I don't like this Julie! Who knows why it wants us to go that way? It could have been sent by someone after the Omnitrix, bounty hunters, slavers or even _game hunters_ looking to bag a couple of human trophies for their wall!" He shook his head and touched the Omnitrix again. "I'd better drive it off; get away from it!"

I was still pretty determined to solve this peacefully. Besides, somehow I couldn't see this creature as a threat any more. "Hey boy!" It sounded weird calling an _alien_ by such a term, but its dog-like behaviour was making me think of it in those terms. The alien paused and looked at me again. "You want us to come with you don't you?"

"_Ship-ship-shiiip!_" The creature actually _nodded_! It flowed around me until it was behind me and then suddenly lashed out with a tentacle that wrapped around my wrist. There was a weird tingling sensation that I ignored at the time. "_Shhhip!_"

"Hey! Let her go!" Ben said, striding over. Much to his surprise, the creature also grabbed his wrist with a tentacle. It extruded three legs and walked off, tugging forcefully but not too hard on its tentacles. When we dug our heels in, it released us and flowed behind us, shoving at the backs of our legs. Ben couldn't help but chuckle. "Boy! He's insistent isn't he?"

I found myself giggling. "He seems determined that we should go with him! I could swear he seems… _desperate_?" On an instinct that, on reflection, was pretty stupid, I reached down and rubbed the head-extrusion of the creature. The circle crinkled in a way that made me think of a smile.

"And he is pretty clear about not hurting us in the process," Ben added with a nod. He sighed. "Okay, I'd better check this out!"

"I'm coming too!" Ben shot me a firm look and opened his mouth to order me to go home immediately (that much was pretty obvious). "Look, it grabbed me too! I want to see how this story ends!" Ben folded his arms and glared. I decided to play dirty. I poised coyly and batted my eyelashes at Ben. "Besides, daddy will be mad if I come home without you! You might not get another chance to spend time with me that way!"

Ben grimaced and palmed his face. "Oh… _MAN_!" he moaned. "You've been spending _way_ too much time with Gwen! Okay, you can come with us but you do _whatever _I tell you to, okay?"

I nodded ingenuously, my eyes wide with innocence. With a sigh, Ben set off in the direction the little alien had rolled and I followed him. The alien morphed into a weird tyre-shaped object with a fan in the centre and took to the air, leading us upstream and joyfully calling out: "_Shiiip! Shiiip!_"

* * *

So it was that the most life-changing night of my life continued to a conclusion that I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams.

Ben identified Ship, for so we decided it should be known, as a _Galvan Mechamorph_, an artificial life-form made of liquid metal and nanotechnology. The polymorphic alien led us to one of the electricity substations outside of town. Wrapped around one of the transformers was another Mechamorph, a much larger one.

This second alien explained that was trapped by the electromagnetic fields of the transformer. Ben remarked that maybe it should be more careful about where it stopped off for a snack and it actually managed to look abashed. It explained that had managed to extrude Ship and push it outside the electromagnetic fields. It then sent it to home onto the energy emissions of the Omnitrix. Ben demanded to know why Ship had used such… _forceful_ measures. The alien replied in a genuinely embarrassed tone that Ship was young and that fear for its parent had probably made it a bit aggressive. It admitted that maybe it should have been slightly more explicit and clear in its instructions to Ship. The creature then mentioned, with obvious hope in its tone of voice, that the Wielder of the Omnitrix was known to be just and good and would help anyone in need.

Ben went bright red in embarrassment and I felt oddly proud at the praise and the obvious good reputation that he enjoyed in the wider galaxy.

Ben used the Omnitrix to transform into a crystalline life-form that he called Chromastone. He explained that its body had the property of absorbing and redirecting energy. With the Mechamorph's guidance, he was able to redirect the energy fields from the transformer's insulator stacks so that it could slide off. We watched (with a kind of a silly smile on my part) as the alien and Ship had a joyous reunion. Then the larger Mechamorph morphed into what I immediately realised was some kind of _space ship_!

Ship rolled up to us. "Shouldn't you go with your… uh… parent, boy?" I asked, affectionately petting him on the head.

"_Ship!_" Ship replied.

"_My offspring is too young to engage in interstellar travel_," the Mechamorph proclaimed. "_It must first learn how to fully control its shape and optimise its systems. This process will take some time. In any case, I think it has bonded with you. I shall leave it in your care_." With that, the Mechamorph lifted off. Ben and I watched as the living UFO vanished into the starry winter skies.

Ship didn't react as if it was even slightly upset at the departure of its parent. Instead it flowed up my body and curled around my upper body like a long scarf, calling out happily. Ben laughed. "Looks like you've just been adopted!" He looked at the Omnitrix and gasped. "Oh man! It's quarter to nine already! I've got to get you home or your dad'll skin me!"

I looked at him in some surprise. "It tells the time too?" I asked.

Ben grinned. "Hey, it's the greatest machine in the galaxy! Of _course_ it can!" Ben twisted the dial of the Omnitrix and slapped down the dial, transforming into a creature like a red manta ray with a distinct humanoid head, legs and arms. "_Welcome aboard Jetray Air! Please make sure that your seat backs and tables are in the upright and locked position!_" Ben… no, _Jetray_… grabbed me and soared into the air. I suspect that my cry of elation was heard all the way to the other side of town!

* * *

We landed in the deserted car park of a small office building, well within five minutes' walking distance of my home. Ben transformed back into his human form. "So…" he said.

"Ben, thanks for the great evening," I said. "I can honestly say that I've never had so much fun in my life!"

"R… really?" He blinked and grinned in pleased surprise. "You mean… even with the aliens and all?"

I nodded and smiled broadly. "_Especially_ with the aliens," I confirmed. "Ben… I always knew you were special. The aliens just make it _more_ so!"

Ben looked amazed and, as I watched, his smile got that broader and happier. "S… So… maybe…? Maybe we could… do it again sometime? The date, I mean, not the aliens and freak-fighting!"

I laughed. "We'll have to see, won't we?" Ben looked puzzled. I leaned forward. "First, you have to ask!"

We were briefly illuminated by the beams of a small truck's headlights as it drove past, Ship leapt off of my shoulder and morphed into his wheel form. "Hey! Where are you going?" I called out.

Ship extruded a psuedopod and waved as he rolled off after the truck. I looked at Ben who shrugged. "Well… the parent did say that he had to learn before he could go back to space! I guess he's off to do that!"

I nodded, feeling strangely disappointed. "Well… At least that saves having to explain my new pet to my folks!" Ben and I both laughed. "Okay, sir, there is enough time for you to walk me home!"

Ben nodded and gestured for me to precede him. Instead, I grabbed his hand and tugged to show we should walk together. Ben blushed but looked very pleased. That was all the confirmation that I needed that this was only the beginning. If, as we walked down the street to my house, I tucked myself in against Ben's side rested my head on his shoulder, well I'm sure that you will forgive me the impulse.

_To be continued…_


End file.
